Los Angeles Angels MLB Team Doctor Lewis Yocum Dies at Age 66

Dr. Lewis A. Yocum, the team doctor for the Los Angeles Angels and an orthopedic surgeon who was a consulting surgeon for hundreds of major league players, has died at the age of 66. USA Today reported that Yocum had liver cancer. Yocum was a fellow at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles and specialized in shoulder, elbow and knee surgery. Photographer: John Cordes/Angels Baseball via Bloomberg

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- Lewis A. Yocum, the team doctor for
the Los Angeles Angels and an orthopedic surgeon who helped
extend the Major League Baseball careers of players including
Stephen Strasburg and Dustin Pedroia, has died. He was 66.

Yocum was a fellow at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles
and specialized in shoulder, elbow and knee surgery. USA Today
reported that Yocum had liver cancer, without saying where it
got the information.

“Dr. Lewis Yocum was a giant in the field of sports
medicine,” MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said in a e-mailed
statement. “He was an invaluable resource to not only the
Angels franchise, but players throughout all of Major League
Baseball.

‘‘All of our clubs relied upon Dr. Yocum’s trusted opinion
and judgment.’’ Selig said. ‘‘Throughout the last 36 years, the
lives and careers of countless players benefited from his
pioneering expertise, and he made our game on the field better
as a result.’’

Yocum was a consulting surgeon for hundreds of major league
players and recently met with Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy
Halladay, a two-time Cy Young Award winner as his league’s best
pitcher, about Halladay’s shoulder injury.

Yocum performed Tommy John ligament-transplant surgery in
2010 on Strasburg, drafted No. 1 by the Washington Nationals the
previous year. Strasburg returned to go 15-6 with a 3.16 earned
run average last season.

Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox, Jordan
Zimmerman of the Nationals, Kendrys Morales of the Seattle
Mariners and C.J. Wilson of the Angels are other notable players
who were Yocum’s patients.

‘‘Really saddened by the passing of Dr. Yocum,” Wilson,
who had Tommy John surgery in 2004, said via Twitter. “He was
the sole reason a lot of pitchers and I had a chance at a career
in baseball.”